Where will Travis Hunter play in the NFL? Coaches, scouts have wildly different opinions

New York Times

23-04-2025

(Editor's note: The following is excerpted from Bruce Feldman's NFL Draft Confidential, featuring intel from anonymous coaches and evaluators about every position of the 2025 draft class. The coaches are identified by number to distinguish their contributions from each other.)
What will happen when Travis Hunter, Colorado's Heisman Trophy-winning, two-way phenomenon, hits the NFL?
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'I think he is a defensive back wanting to play receiver, not the other way around,' said offensive coordinator No. 2. 'If he really wants to be a wide receiver, he's got to commit to being a wide receiver. Watch (Colorado's) pro day; he does all this stuff (on his routes) that doesn't matter. All this extra stuff at the line of scrimmage. You're not gonna have time to do all of that. His explosiveness and ball skills are what are so great about him. But walking up, man to man, Jalen Ramsey's over you, what is he gonna do? He's gonna have to grow up fast.'
We've seen other elite athletes play both ways in college, most notably Charles Woodson and Champ Bailey, but they only dabbled on offense — just like Hunter's mentor Deion Sanders did in the NFL. In 2024, the 6-feet, 188-pound Hunter almost always logged well over 100 snaps per game, showing off a gas tank unlike any ever seen in major college football. As a receiver, he caught 96 passes for 1,258 yards and 15 touchdowns in 2024.
'He has all the talent, but he is pretty raw as a route runner,' said WR coach No. 1. 'That's not his fault. You can't be 100 percent dialed in if you're literally playing both ways. He's a freak show when it comes to his ball skills. He just doesn't believe there's a ball he can't catch, regardless of where the DB is.'
Scouting director No. 1 said he thinks Hunter should play corner: 'I think you're doing him and the team a disservice if you're not playing him at corner. He helps your roster because he can play both, but I think he's more of a package player at receiver. At corner, he can get you 10 interceptions a season.'
Who is to make that decision: the team that's likely spending a top-5 pick or Hunter himself? He said last week that he'd 'quit football' if he wasn't allowed to play both ways.
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'I think you let him figure that out,' said the scouting director. 'You be open-minded to it. At Colorado, he didn't practice much because he took so many reps. In the league, you've just got to let him know these are the practice demands.'
Defensive backs coach No. 1, whose team isn't expected to have a shot at Hunter, felt strongly that teams should make him a corner who has a package at receiver, not the other way around.
'It's like the difference between a starting pitcher and a closer,' said DB coach No. 1. 'A corner is like a starting pitcher. He needs to amass reps throughout the entirety of a game. That's when he's rendered most effective. You're not looking for him to get three outs in nine pitches. You need him to play the long game. Be willing to give up a hit here. Give up a walk to a guy there. Be willing for it to get sticky in certain situations.
'When you play outside corner, that's the parallel. It's a long game. Get a feel for what routes you're seeing and when they're targeting guys. It's very tough to just come into that. Greg Maddux couldn't just come into the game in the eighth inning and get you three outs. Part of his genius is that he paints a whole picture. That's the same way with a corner. You've got to paint the whole picture.'
The tricky part of all of this is that Hunter is seen by many as the most talented wideout in this year's draft.
'I think he's awesome,' said WR coach No. 2. 'He does a lot of things on tape that you can't teach, and the stuff that he struggles with, you can teach him. Like some of the fundamentals, the things you do at the top of routes, and some of the details, like little route-technique stuff, stuff that when you're playing 150 snaps a game, it's hard to hone in on that kind of stuff. But from an instinct, play-making skill, and the mindset he has, I think he can be awesome at wide receiver.'
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WR coach No. 3 said he thinks Hunter is 'a great receiver' because of his rare twitch, separation skills and ball skills compared with almost all the other receivers in this draft.
'He did a little too much (dancing in his routes at Colorado's pro day) but that's kind of par for the course, especially when they're doing routes on air at a pro day where they make all these moves and do stuff that looks good for YouTube but is not necessarily realistic in a game. But sometimes those moves work. He's raw, but not as raw as you would think for playing over 100 snaps in a game and doesn't necessarily get all the coaching that you would get if you were on one side of the ball or another.'
When asked about Hunter's potential as a receiver, passing coordinator No. 1 gushed: 'Oh my God! He could be Justin Jefferson, but he can really play corner. It's gonna be an interesting case study because we've never seen this.'
Hunter dominated on both sides at Colorado, but the NFL isn't the Big 12. As talented as he is — several secondary coaches I talked to say he's the top cornerback prospect in this class by far and probably in the past few years — there is some risk involved if teams opt to go the two-way route with him.
'Is he gonna fully commit to doing that (playing defensive back)? I believe that it does take a lot to become a really good corner in this league beyond just having a lot of God-given ability,' said DB coach No. 2. 'He has the ball skills and ability to be a No. 1 corner if he was fully committed to it.'
'He's the best athlete and pure player in this draft,' said OC No. 1.